Michigan
27-13-5, 16-9-3CCHA
Boston College
32-8-2Overall
Michigan Comeback Falls Short in National Semifinal
4/5/2001 12:00:00 AM | Ice Hockey
ALBANY, N.Y. -- A first impression can mean everything in a business deal. A first period can mean everything to an ice hockey team, too. Thursday night (April 5), the Michigan Wolverines found out the first period was the beginning of the end of the 2000-01 season.
Boston College dominated the Maize and Blue in the first period, then had to hold on for two periods to knock off U-M 4-2 in the semifinal round of the Frozen Four at the Pepsi Arena. A sold-out crowd of 13,252 watched BC dominate Michigan in the opening stanza, but the gutty Wolverines mounted a comeback, making Thursday night's game in the Frozen Four one for the ages.
Boston College outplayed the Wolverines throughout the first period. Early first-period turnovers forced U-M goalie Josh Blackburn (Choctaw, Okla.) to come up with two point-blank saves in the first three minutes of play, and he kept the Eagles off the board until the 10:06 mark of the opening stanza, when Chuck Kobasew slid the puck by Blackburn off a pass from Tony Voce in the corner.
Boston College freshman Ben Eaves made the score 2-0 on a power-play goal at 14:29. A shot from the left point by defenseman Bobby Allen was tipped by Eaves in the slot, and the puck was redirected over Blackburn's shoulder.
U-M came out stronger to start the second period. Early opportunities by Josh Langfeld (Coon Rapids, Minn.) and Jeff Jillson (N. Smithfield, R.I.) were stymied by Eagles senior goaltender Scott Clemmensen. A Boston College power play goal midway through the period again put U-M in trouble. Eagle Rob Scuderi hitting Kobasehew cutting across the front of the net for tip-in to give BC a 3-0 lead.
Just when it looked like Michigan was dead in the water, John Shouneyia (Bloomfield Hills, Mich.) took a pass from Jillson and placed a backhand shot in the right top corner of the net just 46 seconds later for Michigan's first goal.
Blackburn again kept U-M in the game with a couple of good saves, but it was Michigan that had the best chance when Shouneyia hit Andy Hilbert (Howell, Mich.) with a breakaway pass with less than 10 minutes left. Hilbert pulled Clemmensen to the right but placed his backhand shot high and wide. Mark Kosick (Victoria, B.C.) also had a glorious scoring opportunity from the edge of the crease with just over one minute left in the period, but Clemmensen came up big again, keeping BC on top 3-1 after two periods.
The third period started out with a quick BC scoring opportunity. This time it was Blackburn who had to come up big, stopping s shot from in front of the crease just 90 seconds into the period. At the 5:48 mark Mike Cammalleri (Richmond Hill, Ontario) received a pass in front of the net from Dave Huntzicker (Ann Arbor, Mich.), and Cammalleri beat Clemmensen to bring U-M within one.
Brian Gionta came right back to force Blackburn to make a leg save and Jeff Gioulano put the rebound back on Blackburn, who had to make another great save. Thirty seconds later, it was Langfeld again who had good shot but couldn't get it past Clemmensen.
Back again came the Eagles with Gionta just missing a tip at the right side of the net and Voce getting stoned by Blackburn on the wraparound. Kobashew blew a blistering shot just past Blackburn but wide of the net to finish off a 45-second flurry by BC. And there was still 10:30 left on the clock as U-M tried to fight back.
With just under three minutes left in the contest, Blackburn kept Michigan in the game by stopping a breakaway opportunity by Gionta. The Eagles' captain intercepted a pass near the blueline and skated all alone in on Blackburn. The Michigan goaltender made a glove save when Gionta shot the puck high.
Boston College sealed the victory with an empty-net goal with 0:20 remaining in the game as Eaves scored his second goal of the game.
GAME SUMMARY
Â| Goals By Period | 1 | 2 | 3 | F |
| Michigan | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 |
| Boston College | 2 | 1 | 1 | 4 |
1st period
1, BC, Chuck Kobasew 25 (Tony Voce, Rob Scuderi) 10:06.
2, BC, Ben Eaves 12 (Bobby Allen, Brian Gionta) 14:29 (pp).
PENALTIES - Mike Cammalleri, MICH (HOLDING) 12:58; Brian Gionta, BC (TRIPPING) 16:28.
2nd period
3, BC, Chuck Kobasew 26 (Rob Scuderi, Brooks Orpik) 11:38 (pp).
4, MICH, John Shouneyia 10 (Jeff Jillson, Josh Langfeld) 12:24.
PENALTIES - Tony Voce, BC (CROSS-CHECKING) 06:47; Josh Langfeld, MICH (HIT AFTER WHISTLE) 08:50; Ales Dolinar, BC (HIT AFTER WHISTLE) 08:50; Mike Komisarek, MICH (ROUGHING) 10:04; Scott Matzka, MICH (ROUGHING) 13:19; Brooks Orpik, BC (HOLDING) 13:19.
3rd period
5, MICH, Mike Cammalleri 29 (Dave Huntzicker) 05:12.
6, BC, Ben Eaves 13 (unassisted) 19:40 (empty net).
PENALTIES - None
Shots on goal: MICH 10-9-14-33; BC 14-9-13-36. Power plays: MICH 0 of 2; BC 2 of 2. Penalties: MICH 4 (8 min); BC 4 (8 min). Goalies: MICH, Josh Blackburn 26-13-5 (35 shots-32 saves); BC, Scott Clemmensen 29-7-2 (33-31). Referee: Steve Piotrowski. Assistant Referees: Randy Schmidt, Dan Carey. Attendance: 13252. Time: 2:46.
N O T E S
With an assist on Mike Cammalleri's third-period goal, senior Dave Huntzicker recorded his 50th career point as a Wolverine.
BC goalie Scott Clemmensen tied the NCAA Tournament record for career wins with nine. He ties former U-M All American goalie Marty Turco, who recorded nine wins from 1995 to 1998.
U-M has a 38-17-0 record in NCAA play after the loss to BC.
Michigan head coach Red Berenson now has a 16-9 mark in NCAA play and a 50-29-0 mark in postseason action.
Q U O T E S
U-M Head Coach Red Berenson
On falling behind 3-0 ... "Obviously it was a bad start for our team. The three goals were huge against a team like BC."
On the slow start ... "It wasn't like our team played terrible. BC played well and got off to a better start than we did."
On the comeback ... "There is no quit to this team. Our seniors were still a big factor. We were outplayed, out-chanced. We needed to put our chances in; it didn't happen."
Senior Right Wing Josh Langfeld
On the game ... "We came out and played hard, but for whatever reason we had a bad start and you cannot do that against a team like Boston College. We knew they played hard in the first 10 minutes and we just wanted to weather the storm, but they scored three goals and then we battled back and that showed the great character of this team."
Senior Left Wing Geoff Koch
On the comeback ... "It says a lot about our team and the character of our team. This is the most close-knit group of guys that I ever played with. Tonight we didn't give up, but unfortunately we didn't get the bounces."
Boston College Head Coach Jerry York
On the game ... "I thought it was a terrific college hockey game. It was fast paced, just what you'd hope for. It is what you hope for when you get to the Frozen Four, you want to have teams play like that."
On momentum swings ... "There were a couple of momentum swings that I think both teams should be credited for. We were up 3-0 and Michigan came back and had all the momentum and then it went 3-2. I then we thought we held our ground really strongly over, say, the last 10 minutes of the hockey game."
On the fast start ... "We always want to emphasize a fast start. We watched Michigan a number of different times on tape and I'll tell you what -- that's an excellent hockey team."
Contact: Bruce Madej (734) 763-4423
